Brian's Song is a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the details of the life of Brian Piccolo , a Wake Forest University football player stricken with terminal cancer after turning pro, told through his friendship with Chicago Bears running back teammate and Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers , who helps him through the difficult struggle. The production was such a success on ABC television that it was later shown in theaters, with a major premiere in Chicago; however, it was soon withdrawn due to a lack of business. Many critics have called the movie one of, if not the finest... telefilm ever made. The movie is based on Sayers' account of his friendship with Piccolo and coping with Piccolo's illness in Sayers' autobiography, I Am Third. The film was written by veteran screenwriter William Blinn, whose script, one Dallas television critic called, "highly restrained, steering clear of any overt sentimentality [yet conveying] the genuine affection the two men felt so deeply for each other." Although based on a true story, the film did include some fictional scenes.
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| Release date: | November 30, 1971 |
| Directed by: | Buzz Kulik |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 73 Minutes |
| Producer: | Paul Junger Witt |
| Editor: | Bud S. Isaacs |
| Music by: | Michel Legrand |
| Cinematography: | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Screenplay by: | William Blinn |